Riva Banari has posed:Caduceus Genetics has become a household name in this world. The familiar staff icon can be seen in many places throughout its home city, promising potent applications of the latest genetic treatements to alleviate various ailments. As one might expect of such cutting edge technology, it's not available to everyone, however, and rumors always fly about such 'miraculous' treatments.

Whether they're true or not it doesn't matter. Many speak out against the facilities, proclaiming the dangers of genetic manipulation, the potential for disaster and abuse, and of course, the expense and difficulty of being one of those who can be served. But most ignore such a thing, instead focusing on the clear (and highly publicized) positives.

Almost too good to be true.

The lobby of the main facility is a pleasant affair in future-white, a sparkling, soft sterility with a backing of soothing music. A receptionist's desk For security's sake, of course, there is a checkpoint before the main section of the lobby, with security guards on hand with a scanner system.

A woman enters wearing a red leather jacker and shades, chewing gum. She has a red ponytail and messy hair that hangs down to the small of her back, with a black shirt and tight jeans and sneakers. A red and white cross hangs from a silver chain around her neck, swinging and sparkling as she approaches carrying a heavy duffelbag. Without missing a beat, she sets it down for the luggage scanner, and steps forward into the detector.

The detector beeps. The guard steps forward, tired-looking as he holds up a magnetic wand. "Sorry, ma'am, we're going to need to see..."

The woman opens her jacket and reveals the pair of MP5 submachine guns and assorted explosives under her jacket, smiling wordlessly.

"HOLY SH-" The guard reels, taken aback moments before the guns flip up into her hands, barking gold streaks of light as it peppers through the three guards present, the last slumping against the screen as the baggage shows off a number of plastique charges packed around a long, heavy bar of some kind.

The lobby breaks into a panic as the woman picks up the bag calmly, gesturing with the gun. "Go." She says to the civilians. "Everyone out! Pool's closed." She says as she walks over to the fire alarm and pulls it with the magazine, setting it off.

This is probably about when the security grid lights up.

Staren has posed: This isn't the first violent attack on a Caduceus facility. The group of 'terrorists' has previously hit medical supply warehouses and such, and some private security investigators believed HQ would be the next target and reached out for Multiversal help.

So, Staren's been waiting in the main security room. His strategy has been more focused on quickly countering the attack than stopping it from happening in the first place, given his specialties -- There were some drones outside watching for obviously armed people, but Riva's smarter than that.

Staren's attention is grabbed when the shooting starts. Three dead. If this finishes quickly enough, he can save them.

Staren rushes out the door and down a stairwell, using flight and kicking off walls to descend quickly.

So it is that Staren comes running down a hallway, in his armor as usual, and firing... a phaser?

It's not that he doesn't think whoever this is is dangerous, but there are some obvious benefits to at least trying to take them alive before he goes FULL DESTRUCTION. "It's not worth it! Stand down now and you don't have to die for this! Things will get better, it doesn't have to be the haves vs the have-nots!"

Riva Banari has posed:The lobby, at least, empties out fast. The fire alarm will ensure the est of the complex follows suit.

Anyone remaining is either security or worse, and thus fair game.

The phaser is something different. The briefing didn't say anything about people with energy weapons. The phased beam strikes Riva straight in the chest, creating a ripple of hexagonal light as it punches into a wave of defensive Anima and through, scorching her clothing and the flesh beneath.

Riva pauses for a moment, looking down at the damage. "Holy /crap/ that stings." Then she looks back up to Staren. "Staren? Really?" She sighs. "Ah, what the hell. You think you're going to kill /me/?" She smirks, pulling off the shades and pocketing them. The tingling strike of the phaser blast makes her hands shake a bit, but not so much that she can't level her gun and hold down the trigger, spraying suppression fire on the armor with waves of golden light. "Sorry, Staren. I got things I gotta do. If you insist on geting in my way, I'll make sure to send you home in one piece." She laughs, smiling. "Nothing personal!"

Of course, this is while she's hosing the scientist down with ENERGY BULLETS.

Staren has posed: Staren is shocked to recognize Riva, but not so much that he just stops fighting. When she starts to move her hands, he takes a defensive stance and is engulfed in a translucent sphere of amber force -- the energy bullets(?!) seem to eat away at it, bits of the energy 'shattering' into sparkles as they take hits. The kinetic energy does transfer to Staren -- he stumbles back a step and braces himself better.

"You're right. I guess I can kill you and THEN ask why." He shifts his stance and points his right arm at her.

The field drops and he fires the twin beam cannons on his forearm right at her center of mass.

Riva Banari has posed:Twin beam cannons are freaking scary. Riva's eyes widen as she sees the beams come out. "Oh hell." She says, and puts up her own arms. Much like Staren, a honey-colored field of hexagons wash out around her when the beams impact, crashing into her. For a couple seconds, she holds firm... And then she skids backwads under the blast, before getting launched backwards into a wall. The MP5 goes clattering to the floor, and Riva hits said wall with a grunt, felling to the floor and smoking, her clothing seared as she staggers back to her feet. "Wow. Did you get upgrades?" She asks the scientist before she shakes herself out. "All right. Looks like we're doing this! It's been a while since I had a real fight!" She sounds... /enthusiastic/ about it, even, as she leaps forward into a long slide, grabbing her dufflebag and pulling the case out. It pops open, and Riva pulls out the long, red-lacquiered mass of metal inside... An with a KER-CHUNK, the sides unfold into a massive, heavyweight Ajoran Cross. Looks like she's still got it. And made it more portable!

She spins it around in her hands, and she grins. A moment later, she whips the Cross about her, slamming the thing into the ground with a colossal impact. The floor fragments as a wave of Anima rolls up, red-gold energy washing towards him in a wave. Block or dodge, it doesn't matter, because Riva launches herself at high speed right into Staren's face right behind it, attempting to simply ram into him! "Got a cool laser sword, too?" She asks.

Staren has posed: Staren shrugs at the question, then sighs at her sudden enthusiasm. "Oh no, don't /enjoy/ this!"

And then the cross comes out, and he realizes he's not sure what that does. He activates his wings and forcefield and tries to outrun the wave... but it slams into the field instead, shattering all but a thin bubble around him as devices on his armor explode in a shower of sparks. The field drops as he lands on the floor and skids down a hallway, now with Riva ramming him!

"I've HAD those! Well, technically they're protoabstractum but..."

There's the sound of boots on the ground. Figures in SWAT-like security gear, including ominous mirrored-visor helmets, round some corners and step out of an elevator.

"...I've got other plans." The armor electrifies!

Riva Banari has posed:"Why not?" Riva replies. "It's not like either of us is going to die from this, right? And these guys..." She hops back for a moment at the electrified armor, and glances about, frowning. She's not stupid, she knows what'll happen if she hits that armor with her hammer... "They know what they signed up for."

But then the Heavy Goons appear. Riva grins again, getting a mischevious twinkle in her eye. "I'm looking forward to seeing what new toys you've got." A moment later, she turns and whirls the cross, hurling it through the air at the first SWAT Guy. A golden tether connects it back to Riva as the anchor-like prong sweeps around and grapples onto the guy. With a yell, she pulls an arm back, whipping him back into the air towards her. she steps back, recovering her weapon as he impacts the wall and bounces back, staggering right in between the pair as Rive brings the cross back. Oh god, she isn't...

"FOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE!"

Yeah, she is. A moment later, there is an explosion of energy as Riva smashes the guy, sending him flying toward Staren as a high-speed projectile! Good thing he's wearing armor, right?

...Right?

Staren has posed: "HA!" Staren shouts, grinning as the guard is pulled back to Riva.

And then something doesn't happen, and he's surprised, then angry, "GOD DAMN--"

He tries to step out of the way but Riva's aim is right on, slamming them both into end of the hallway with a crunch. That was probably armor and the wall and not bones, right?

The other SWAT guys seem undeterred, converging on Riva. As she starts to attack, or try to get away from them, though, the robots disguised as guards all self-destruct (except for the one on Staren) and the hallway fills with superheated plasma.

Riva Banari has posed:The first hint is probably when Staren doesn't react how Riva expects. "Huh?" She asks, arching an eyebrow. "Something you wanna tell me?" She asks, but she doesn't get an answer as the security converges on her. "Oh hey, how's it going?" She asks, backing to put her back to a wall while they converge. "You guys don't wanna-"

And then explosion. Blazing plasma fire rolls through the lobby, melting and seething everything around them as Riva vanishes in light and heat.

It's beautiful.

As sight returns, a burning golden field can be seen, Riva having planted her hammer down in a bracing positon that extends in a wide frontal arc... Which promptly vanishes as Riva collapses to one knee. Her body sizzles and scorches, plasma seething over her clothing and flesh as she groans. "Ooooh... This hurts. This is a /deep/ pain." She shudders, her body seething and sparking as she fights to retain integrity and not fall to the intense pain and gross damage. Blood drips on the floor, her wounds intense. "Wow... That was... Really impressive..." She gasps.

But her teeth clench, and with a pained yell she forces herself back to her feet. "RAAAAAAAAGH! I'm not done yet, Staren! She huffs. Anima seethes around her, curling around the Ajoran Cross as she hefts it... And she lunges forward, driving down the melted hallway with hammer behind, screaming as light flows behind her. She rockets forward faster than one might expect, swinging the weapon up into a massive uppercut.... just short of Staren. Wait, did she miss?

No. On her way back down, she reverses the weapon, and drives it straight down, attempting to crush Staren right into the ground with a colossal descending attack. But that's not all... Should he get pinned, he will feel the weapon discharge a massive burst of Anima right through him as the area shudders with a rumbling impact, light exploding upwards all around her in a wash of energy that shatters the area around her indiscriminately.

Staren has posed: Staren pulls himself out of the wall. The armor is beat up, covered in scratches and dents... but it still functions.

Seeing the devastation he's wrought, Staren realizes the client is probably going to be unhappy. At least this is just some hallway and not a room full of important supplies or something, but... He really hadn't planned to use all the bots at once like that. He figured one or two would stop terrorists who went for the guards... but that was before he learned he was fighting Riva.

He can't worry about who's reimbursing who right now, though. Boy, Riva looks... not MAD, exactly, but it's the exact same expression he'd expect enemies to see from a charging Biteblade or Saiyan.

It's not something he wants to be on the receiving end of.

He dodges, desperately, wings and the armor's strength working in concert to juke to the side... and this time, mercifully, it WORKS.

The floor, and the maintenance crew, are probably going to have a very bad day, though.

Staren's not sure what to do, except that he HAS to get some distance between himself and Riva. As he dodges around her, he reaches out to try and just zap her with a touch before zooming off back up the hallway!

Riva Banari has posed:Damage has been done... But the wrong kind of damage. Riva brought explosive charges for a reason. And who knows what else she's been tasked to do? Either way, Riva looks down as she finds a lack of Staren in the exploded area.

"Well... Crap." She sighs... And a moment later, Staren pokes her as if to go 'YOU'RE IT!'

The powerful electrical jolt sends her reeling. The bleeding is getting worse, as if she's running out of whatever is keeping her held together in the face of all of that intense damage. The plasma is /still burning her/.

"Wow, you've gotten a lot stronger." Riva says. "Good work. I think I'm going to have say you win this one." She grimaces, and the Ajoran Cross vanishes into a ripple of flowing gold. "I'm getting out of here." She reaches down to get her shades... But pulls out a drooling, melted lump of plastic. She pouts at that. "Awwww... Dammit." She sighes, tossing them aside to let them finish disintegrating, then turns and leaps away, bolting back up the hall to scoop her duffelbag and get out the way she came in, moving while she still can. "See you around!" She calls to the scientist.

Staren has posed: Get away get away get away, maybe you can finish her off with the beam cannons if--

"Wha... what?" Staren turns in midair, still flying backwards away from her and keeping his right arm aimed at her. It seems that last attack she made made him think she was in better condition than she was, but now...

"Um... thanks?" Staren says, uncertainly, as the fight goes from sixty to zero. "I'll, uh... see you around, too. We can... catch up." He seems bamboozled by the abrupt shift, watching her warily as she turns to leave.

...Then he calls in what happened, warning security to keep people away from the unexploded bomb while he rushes to get the three guards Riva shot the necessary medical (or ego bridge-ical) attention.